Maybe if I continue watching, I'll lose the traits that worry me

CHAPTER THREE —
new perspective

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

SCOTT AND STILES TRUDGED up the short steps towards the lacrosse field as they discussed their most recent problems.

"Of course you're still the team captain. You got your grades up, just like Coach told you to, right?"

"Yeah, but he never told me I was back on the team— he just told me to show up at tryouts today."

Stiles waved his hand dismissively, "We got bigger things to deal with, anyway. Did you tell Argent yet?"

"Uh, I texted him, but he didn't get back to me."

Stiles shot his best friend in an incredulous look, "You told him his sister Kate came back from the dead over a text?"

"I didn't have the money to call France." At least Scott had the decency to look sheepish, but Stiles merely sighed.

"Yeah, you think you got money problems? Try paying for an MRI and a visit to Eichen House."

"Another notice?"

"Yeah. This one said 'final.'" Stiles sighed, "Now, what the hell are we doing here, anyway? We got like, one hundred and seventeen million problems, and worrying about our status on the lacrosse team is not one of them."

Scott stared at the scene behind Stiles head, "It is now."

Stiles turned his head to see a boy standing as goalie, catching every ball heading his way with no hesitation. "Who the hell is that?" As the words fell from his mouth, the player took his helmet off and revealed a boy who may have been a couple of years younger than them.

Another player by the name of Garrett approached the boy with a smile, "Nice, Liam! You might just be our first-ever freshman captain." Liam simply smiled back and bumped his lacrosse stick with the other boys.

"Okay, maybe we should just practice a little bit..." Stiles trailed off seeing something that rendered him speechless. Scott followed his gaze to the other side of the field and there stood the effervescent sight of one Maeve Walton.

She stood in the midst of her fellow teammates, but she stood out as always. Seeing her carefree and stretching, almost made them wonder if this had been the same Maeve from a week ago. She looked different; gone was the sickly tone her skin had and the blood that had previously coated her ripped shirt. She had the glow of a tan from the Mexico sun and her hair was free from the tangles and matte of dirt.

She was beautiful and undoubtedly Maeve.

To say the boys were confused was an understatement. It hadn't slipped their mind that Maeve didn't come to school after dropping her off once they arrived back in Beacon Hills.

Maeve spent a majority of the ride home asleep. She didn't say a word to anyone, instead choosing to look out the window when Kira had woken her up to see if she had wanted to go home, to which she only gave a nod. The brunette stepped out of the jeep and limped up the driveway without so much as a glance back.

It was concerning of course, but at the time, they had too much on their mind to question Maeve and figured that getting her home was the easiest route. Things didn't get any easier from that moment, everything with Derek took a turn and Kate Argent returned from the dead to steal from Peter Hale.

It was only now that the two of them had time to focus on the sight of the Walton girl and wonder exactly what the hell happened to her.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

Maeve had no idea what the hell happened to her.

The last few days had been a blur of memories and everything felt like pieces of a puzzle that weren't connecting. She could briefly recall the horrifyingly sharp pain in her abdomen that stretched all the way to her chest. When that happened, it almost hurt to breathe sometimes. However, every time she looked to see if something was wrong, there wasn't a single thing to indicate that something may have happened.

She could remember the sound of voices, a mix of languages, and the feeling of different hands holding her, some aggressive and the others tentative. Nothing made sense, she couldn't even understand how she had gotten home. One second she was dancing in a loud club in Mexico and the next, she was standing in her shower scrubbing the dirt and blood off of her naked body.

Then she had gotten sick, sick enough that she had chosen to stay home for a few days instead of returning to school; thankfully her grandparents had still been out of town and wouldn't see the terrible state she was in. She laid in bed shivering, her pallor a shade of gray that was concerning, and felt as if something was weighing her down.

Honestly, Maeve couldn't remember most of what had happened while she was sick, she spent a lot of her time asleep and flinching at the flashes of what came in her dreams.

On day three, she woke up to see that she felt better. The dullness of her eyes was gone and her body felt lighter than it had before. However, that positivity didn't last once she saw the mess that was her kitchen. The fridge was open and the floor was covered in a combination of raw meat, packaging, and a disturbing amount of dried blood—she didn't even want to think about who that might belong to.

Alone, she cleaned the kitchen floor and tried to figure out what to do. The silent house allowed her to gather her thoughts and ponder upon her choices. While she wanted to push the missing week to the back of her mind, she just couldn't; it would have been easy to ignore if there wasn't a pit in her stomach and a pain in her chest constantly bringing it to her attention.

Had she been drugged? Had someone slipped something into her drink when she wasn't looking? Maeve couldn't help but shiver at the thought. Maybe it was a bad trip, a psychedelic experience gone wrong. Both options could explain the state of her body and the way she had fallen sick for the past few days. But would either explain the way that she was missing an entire week of her memory?

The sound of her phone ringing snapped her away from her thoughts. She fumbled briefly with the rag in her hand and dropped it entirely before standing up to get her phone from the dining room table. On the screen flashed a picture of her and her grandmother, both with smiles painted on their faces. Swiping right, she answered, "Hello?"

Her grandmother's soothing voice came across the line, "Hello sweet girl!" Maeve's lips twitched up at the familiar nickname. "I just wanted to check in on you, you've been home a few days and haven't called. Is everything alright over there?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm sorry about that Grams. I was gonna call Monday but with the break over, you know how teachers can get. It's like they think we forgot the entire semester after like, a week away." It wasn't a total lie, teachers were like that, but Maeve wasn't too sure on how they reacted this time around and she couldn't tell her grandmother that she hadn't gone to school since coming home.

Her grandmother sighed before giving a quick chuckle, "How about practice, how is that going?"

This time, Maeve didn't have to lie, "We're still on break for right now, but practice is gonna start soon."

"Well, that's good I guess, you can focus on classes and catch up on rest. I'm sure you had a good time in Mexico." She meant well, Maeve knew that, but she couldn't help the flinch that came from the mention of Mexico.

"Yeah, it was fun." Another lie. "It went by really quick, but I'm glad to be home." The truth.

Grams hummed in agreement, "We'll be home pretty soon, should be this weekend. Love you, my sweet girl."

Maeve loved the warmth that filled her chest hearing her grandmother's words, it soothed over the cold, empty feeling in there. "I love you too, Grams. I'll see you soon."

When they hung up, she surveyed the state of the kitchen and sighed, it looked relatively normal, the garbage just smelled with the empty trays where meat used to be. The rag from the floor was tossed in the garbage as well and she moved away. For once in her life, Maeve was stumped. She had no idea where to go from here, she felt tired despite having nearly three full days of sleep.

She thought about her situation; her nightmares and memory loss were concerning, but her body seemed fine. Her grandparents would be coming home soon and that was the thought that made her perk up, things could go back to as normal as possible.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

Going back to school and trying to be normal was harder than she thought it would be, especially when you have two guys practically harassing you about what happened to you. Well, it wasn't exactly harassing, Scott McCall was quiet compared to his interrogative friend.

"Look, I already told you, I don't know what the hell you're talking about," Maeve closed her locker door and tugged her bag higher onto her shoulder. She started walking through the halls but of course, the two of them followed.

Scott walked to her right, Stiles on her left and it was him that kept talking, "Okay, are you sure though?"

"I think I would remember walking through the Mexican desert covered in blood, Stiles." She didn't, but what exactly did it matter to him?

"Okay, okay, what about the woods? Have you been out there recently...maybe during a, oh I don't know, particular moon phase?" Maeve and Scott's faces scrunched up, both exhibiting the same unsaid 'what the hell?' for different reasons.

"Ignore him, Maeve, please. We're just worried about you, Mexico was a weird trip for everyone and you didn't come to school for a few days after we took you home," Damn Scott McCall and his sweet nature. Maeve resisted a sigh, these two had never changed since grade school; Stiles always riled everyone up while Scott followed behind to try and deescalate the situation.

Placing her hand against the door the three of them stood in front of, she turned her body to face them both, "I'm sorry you guys worried, but everything is okay now. Okay?"

Before either of the boys could answer, Maeve pushed the door open and stepped inside before it closed in their faces.

Stiles reached his hand to his forehead and went towards the door as well before Scott grabbed the back of his shirt. "Before you get yourself suspended," Scott said and pointed to the sign that said 'GIRLS LOCKER ROOM' in big white lettering.

Sheepish, Stiles nodded his thanks before they walked away, heading to their own locker room.

"So now what? Was she lying?"

"I don't know, it was hard to hear."

"W-what?" Stiles spluttered.

He repeated himself, "It was hard to hear, I don't know how to describe it. It was almost like it was underwater or something, muffled."

"Okay, what about her scent? Anything wolfy there?"

This time Scott furrowed his brow, "Um, it was almost like the seashore, but nothing 'wolfy'."

The two of them headed into their locker room and began changing before Stiles spoke again, "So now, we have another mystery to solve. Exactly what we need."

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

Maeve stood inside the locker room for a brief moment, hoping that the boys following her wouldn't be stupid enough to walk in too. She heard Scott's comment about suspension and when their footsteps faded away, she moved towards her cubby.

It was try out day, the start of the second semester, she had to ignore all of the nonsense Stiles spilled and focus. She swapped her clothes and headed to the field, there were girls waiting and her coach stood to the side. Approaching the group, Maeve put on her best smile.

"Alright, let's get started!"

And in the end, Maeve found herself welcoming three new members to their team and standing on the sidelines of the field to see how tryouts for the lacrosse team played out.

Maeve thought it was strange to have tryouts during this time in the year, but Beacon Hills was an anomaly. It seemed as if everyone's teams were in rebuilding season; the past semester had people disappearing left and right, all with excuses or unfortunate circumstances. The lacrosse team seemed to be hit pretty hard with their losses, Maeve heard that at least three members had walked away.

So, she watched as Coach Finstock yelled at every player he had on the field, insults flying harder than the balls.  A noise at her side redirected her attention for a second and when she turned, she saw a girl from one of her classes standing next to her.

"Hi," the girl smiled, she was fiddling with a lacrosse stick, "Maeve, right?"

Maeve blinked at her before responding, "Uh, yeah. I'm sorry, I don't think I know your name."

"Oh! It's Kira, we share—", but she was cut off as Maeve recognized her.

"History. Your dad teaches here right?" She was also one of Scott's friends, she had seen the group close last semester.

"Yeah, that's right! Well, I just wanted to say hi and ask you how you're doing, how was your break?"

Maeve avoided eye contact when Kira asked her these questions, she didn't really know what to say. "I mean, it was okay I guess."

Kira hummed, "That's good. Did anything special or different happen while you were on vacation?"

It was weird, it was like everyone in this little group had an interest in her trip. "Not really, it was just a lot of partying to be honest," she shrugged. She watched Scott McCall's performance, her head tilted as she saw him miss every shot. "Isn't the team captain supposed to be good?" She wondered aloud.

"I think he's maybe just nervous or something," Kira gave an awkward chuckle but Maeve didn't pay close attention. She narrowed her eyes in his direction as he landed a shot directly into the goalie's lacrosse stick. This was an interesting development; Scott had become co-captain of the team in sophomore year, but now he played just as bad as he did as a freshman.

Scott glanced towards where Maeve and Kira were on the sidelines. He had been subtly listening in to see if Kira was able to worm anything out of the head cheerleader, but it just ended up with him being sort of offended.

"Dude, what is going on with you?" Stiles disrupted his momentary offense to offend him even more.

"I don't know, I'm having a really off-day."

"Off-day? You were dying out there! I feel actual physical pain watching you."

He scoffed, "I didn't see you make any shots..."

"Yes, that's because I'm terrible, though, Scott! You-you're the Alpha."

"Not on the field. I'm a human on the field." Scott was trying to do his best to be normal after all of the things they had gone through within the last year and a half. Lacrosse was his one thing he could be the most normal in and he was trying his best.

Stiles, however, didn't share the same sentiment, "Well, human-you is kind of sucking at the moment. So, do you think there is any way you can use just, like a little tiny bit of wolf power?"

"It's cheating..." He sighed.

"I know it is. It's just, I hate seeing this little freshman come in and steal all your glory after you worked your tushy off, I hate it!"

"He's not going to steal all the glory."

Their conversation was briefly interrupted when Coach Finstock yelled at them to grab their long sticks and get back into the game. Finding a small opportunity to get Liam's scent, they began playing better than before and the cheers spurred them on.

Kira and Maeve continued watching and Maeve let out a cheer of her own while Kira clapped happily. She had never been a fan of sports, but after four years of watching lacrosse and basketball games, she learned how to be entertained. This was the captain she remembered, this was much better to watch.

But when one of the newbies trying out for the team managed to evade the two players covering goal, it went downhill.

"That was luck!" A shout came from the bleachers behind them.

She turned around and saw a dirty-blonde standing to argue with the coach. Kira next to her mumbled under her breath something that sounded like "Oh no".

A bet for a $10 do-over was verbally shaken upon and the two girls continued to watch as the lacrosse coach pushed the freshman newbie to try again. This time, Scott and Stiles slammed into the poor kid and a loud crunch was heard as he hit the ground. A collective gasp came from everyone watching and then he was shouting in pain.

The players on the field and their coach surrounded him, Maeve could hear Liam say something about his leg and she watched as her fellow classmates picked him up from the ground. The three of them walked away, her eyes following them. Poor kid, he was pretty good and now his chances of making the team were probably crushed.

She barely noticed that Coach Finstock had pitched a fit about losing one of his most promising players and he chucked a ball in his anger. His aim wasn't that good to hit his intended target and there was a brief whoosh of air as Kira's lacrosse stick swung upward to catch the ball, just before it hit Maeve in the nose.

"Holy shit," she whispered with her eyes wide open.

"Wow, nice catch! Throw it back!" Kira swung her stick and the ball hit Finstock straight in the stomach, leaving him winded. "Someone ask her if she's ever played lacrosse!"

Maeve looked at the black haired girl beside her in amazement, and that's how she found herself making a new friend and exchanging numbers.

What an interesting first day back.

PUBLISHED : july 2023
A/N : guys what the heck i actually wrote another chapter, this is so crazy to me. i spent a few weeks rewatching seasons 4 & 5 and outlining only to come to some realizations: this is going to extend to season 5 and i'm converting it into a poly fic between scott/maeve/kira. i was originally gonna just have kira and maeve be besties but their chemistry came through in the outline i have and i couldn't bare to kick scott to the side, so why not give him two hotties to love and to love him back?